He Killed Her Slowly (A Completed Steamy, Romance)

Part 20

Maggie

I'm pissed, sick to my stomach, my head is spinning, and my world as I knew it just collapsed.

"I've had enough. I'm going to bed." I got up and walked away, but Asher came running after me and grabbed my arm.

"We aren't done!" He yelled at me.

"I spent five years with Justin. If he was going to hurt me, he would have done it by now!" I snapped at him.

"Is that the truth, Maggie? He never hurt you? Not even once?"

I pulled my arm from his grip. "He never did anything to intentionally hurt me. Why do you care so much?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "That little girl up there depends on you. You are her beacon, and no matter what you think, you're the best damn thing that ever happened to that girl. If something happens to you, she will be lost forever! She needs you more than she needs me or anyone else."

"That little girl, is the reason I will do this, and the only reason. It's her life on the line! I'll do anything for her, and if that means giving my life, I'll gladly hand it over." I yelled back.

I took off for my room, and he followed. "I've never met such a stubborn woman!"

"I've never met such a prick!"

"You're making the biggest damn mistake of your life!" He said, and I stopped in front of my door.

"That little girl is a survivor, and you don't have enough faith in either of us. I'm doing the best I can for her, and if I can make this end in two days, I'll do it. Justin isn't the man you think he is, Asher. Yes, he lied to me, but he had nothing to gain by knowing me. We broke up because I didn't love him, but he couldn't say the same. I have an intuition about him, and he made me feel safe and loved for five years. I owe him a chance to explain!"

"You're being so damn naïve! I heard you talking to Victoria. She said he got rough with you!"

I was caught off guard, so I opened my door, walked into my room, and started getting dressed for bed.

"Are you going to deny it?"

I walked into my closet and grabbed my shirt. "He was good to me, Asher."

"Stop denying it!"

I finished throwing my shirt on and got into his face. "There is nothing to deny. He was passionate while he fucked me and got carried away. It was rough sex, Asher. Is that what you wanted to know? That he left bite marks and bruises on me, and I missed photoshoots? He roughed me up in bed because he lost control? Do you want to hear that he wasn't the first man to lose control with me?" My hand is shaking because I'm so pissed.

There was a fire in his eyes. "That's fucked up, Maggie! No man should ever leave marks on a woman! That should tell you something."

"Yeah, that I've wasted my life until I met Greer."

I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist. "Maggie, please don't do this, think about Greer. I'm begging you not to go. Please." His eyes turned soft.

"How do you see this as me having a choice?" I asked him.

"Greer is my responsibility. Let me find another way. Do you understand that he has an army of mafia soldiers? You will be surrounded by men who have no empathy, not one good intention. I can't protect you against them, not without an army of my own."

"We have the Daltons," I answered back.

"There is no changing your mind?" He asked.

"No, it's been made."

"Fine, but please don't make me tell Greer that her Aunt Maggie went to be with her mother."

Damn him.

"Then I won't give you a reason to tell her that." I walked away and got into bed, and he started walking away.

"Asher?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you flip off my light?"

"Sure"

My room went dark, and he was gone.